With recent advances in the cardiovascular arts, there's a renewed interest in finding safe and uncomplicated methods for accessing the left atrium of a patient's heart. Currently, a retrograde transaortal technique is most often and involves advancing a catheter through the aorta, into the left ventricle, accessing the left atrium from the left ventricle. However, this path into the left atrium is tortuous. A simple and more attractive alternative is accessing the left atrium directly from the right atrium by crossing the interatrial septum (“septum”) that divides the two atrial chambers of the heart. The right atrium can be easily accessed and crossing the septum is the only requirement to entering the left atrium.
The left atrium can be accessed by puncturing across the septum of the heart at the fossa ovalis membrane, typically the thinnest part of the septum, with a needle-like device such as a Brockenbough needle. While this technique has been widely known since the 1950's, it has not been used largely because the technique has not proven reliable or secure. Misalignment or the incorrect orientation of the needle against the septum, for example, may have severe consequences for the patient, including perforation of the left atrium of the heart or perforation of a patient's aorta. Inadvertent perforations of the inferior vena cava and the coronary sinus have also been reported as a possible complication of this technique. Therefore, rapid, precise and controlled methods and devices for crossing the interatrial septum are needed. The present invention meets these, as well as other, needs.